Posted on 01/01/2004 8:13:18 AM PST by Dog Gone
PASADENA, Calif. -- We are here to witness the Rosa Parks of bowl games.
We have come to sunny California to spite convention and take in a significant moment in college football history.
Power to the people who loathe the Bowl Championship Series. This is your day.
We're here, basically, for a college football sit-in, along with more than 86,000 other rebels with a cause at today's Rose Bowl.
Mainstream? We don't need no stinkin' mainstream. Pass the incense and breathe deep.
College football changes today.
That's what makes today's Southern California-Michigan battle of football powers as much fun as it will be significant.
It's a wrong that will make things right. It's taking a stand for the sake of a cause.
Besides, anything that tweaks BCS leadership and makes all those squirrelly numbers-crunchers look bad is all right by us.
We are the world. We arrive with clenched fists raised in defiance, shouting in unison, "Down with the establishment!"
We are the college football equivalent of Internet bloggers, demanding to be heard and growing in numbers every day.
We realize there is no -- quote, unquote -- official permission to claim today's Rose Bowl as a national title game. But that's what gives us such a rush and makes it so much fun.
Who cares what The Man thinks, anyway? This is the best team in the country playing for the ring.
The over-the-counter national championship game might be down in New Orleans in three days. And there might figure to be much confetti tossing and official presenting of trophies when either Oklahoma or LSU wins it.
But we'll sit here like Rose Bowl flower children, knowing that this Southern California-Michigan bootleg title game is as good as the real thing, and even better.
We have front-row seats to the flash point of change in college football. And the change that will come because USC became the nasty little problem that the BCS couldn't sweep under the rug is only good.
If USC wins today, no one could possibly dispute its claim to No. 1. Not Oklahoma, not LSU. No one.
"We didn't want to tie our value and worth to the results of what the system might be," USC coach Pete Carroll said.
With a win today, the Trojans won't have to worry about the system. They will be No. 1, at least in one poll. And that embarrassing development for the BCS -- no matter what happens in New Orleans -- will account for the final push toward changing the way Division I-A college football determines its national champion.
We are here to watch the best team play for the highest honor.
It is here -- not New Orleans -- where two of the nation's hottest teams are playing their best ball at the end of the year, the way it's supposed to be.
It is here where neither of these teams is coming off a loss, like Oklahoma.
It is USC -- not Oklahoma -- that has posted at least 40 points in seven consecutive games, establishing itself among all-time great offenses. Yet USC coaches still consider defense their best unit.
No one here wants to quash the accomplishments of the Tigers and Sooners this season. Each of those teams certainly have earned their share of the spotlight and much respect. And arguably, each should be in the championship game.
But this Rose Bowl just feels more like the real thing than the real thing, because it easily could be argued that not only USC, but Michigan also is playing better football than either team in New Orleans.
It's a subjective argument, of course.
LSU fans could point to all kinds of numbers and big wins in support of their cause. So could Sooner fans, despite the fresh taste of shellac still in their collective mouths, courtesy of Kansas State.
But that's the whole point. That's why today's Rose Bowl will affect championship runs years from now, not just this season.
Because USC was snubbed by the BCS despite a truly outstanding season, a No. 1 ranking in both polls and dominating performances on both sides of the ball, all those voices demanding change finally will be heard.
This game has everything the Sugar Bowl has, except the copyrighted national championship label. Every cause needs a flashpoint. We've come to Pasadena and found it.
Although the author obviously refers to USC in the above, the best team in either the Rose or Sugar Bowls could very well be Michigan, IMHO. (I am no Wolverine fan, BTW...) We shall see...
USC has played no one this year and lost to an unranked Cal team. They're good, but not nearly that good. They'll be introduced to defense in this game. Similar for OU. OU played Texas who appears to have been overrated in a weaker-than-thought conference now.
LSU lost to a respectable Florida team in their own conference and all of their wins were pretty much blowouts otherwise with decent wins over 11th ranked Georgia twice.
LSU 41, OU 23 to make LSU the champs. Michigan will be #2 after a decisive win over USC one of the most overrated teams in the top 10.
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